Starving
by Diao Lover
Summary: Cindy Lennox was badly shaken after the Raccoon City outbreak and withdrew into a small town to forget it all. However, on November 3rd in 1998, only a few months after the original outbreak, the T-Virus is leaked and a new outbreak occurs. Forced to remember the past and overcome her fears alone, Cindy is left with no choice but to pick up the gun and fight her way to survival.
1. Prologue

_"Cindy!" The voices cried out but she couldn't hear them, they just mingled with the sound of her surroundings. The leaves rustled in the wind, rocks scratching the pavement, the shattering crack of the cement, the roar that belonged to Titan - the infected elephant that was currently stomping it's way towards her, smashing __everything and anything that was in it's way._

_Pale skin, a pretty face with lovely pink lips and bright blue eyes that dimmed darkly instead of shinning it's usual sparkle, long legs and tangled, messy blonde hair, which was pulled into a low ponytail that had been neat at the start of the day, that swayed in the wind. Ironically everything on this woman was unmoving, the only exception was her hair. "Cindy!" Cried out the voices again, but like before, she didn't respond._

_Knees bent, arms straight, eyes looking forward and hands clasping onto a gun, finger itching to pull the trigger yet it never moved, aside form the occasional twitch, the woman who was young and pretty, most likely in her early twenties, gave off the illusion that she ready for action, that she was going to try to take down the elephant that was stomping towards_

_It seemed like a promotional image for a movie or something of the sorts, she was tall, gorgeous and definitely looked like model material, the lady was frozen in place, her eyes weren't darting around in panic nor was she smiling, she appeared to be concentrating on something but you couldn't tell, her face lacked emotion and but seemed to be stuck in place._

_J's Bar was the place where she worked, the place where it all started and the place that would forever be in her memory. Despite being a waitress in a small town, Raccoon City, she had dreams and ambitions, pursuing a job in medicine had always been her dream, she was smart enough to be a doctor it was just unfortunate that she didn't have the money required to get into a good university, or any universities in general._

_She was wearing her work clothes, anyone who knew her knew that she was grateful the outfit was modest and not indecent in anyway, shape or form. The uniform she was wearing was a stripped blue and white shirt, over the top of that was a blue low-cut vest, a black skirt that ended a few centimeters above her knees and to finish it off was black hi-heels._

_Next to her feet was a rather large white case, the red cross was on the front. It was open, with various types of powder scattered around it, green, blue. red and even purple, they swirled together as result of the cool, gentle breeze. This case had once been a prized possession of hers._

_All of her friends watched in horror from they stood, all had fled at the earliest opportunity when they heard that familiar stomp, that signature roar that could only belong to a deranged animal, one that had been drastically changed into a ferocious and dangerous beast. "Cindy!" Came the cries again, yet it made little difference, the blonde chick didn't react._

_The woman, Cindy, was frozen in place, she was a statue, immobile, unmoving, frozen. As the mutated elephant charged towards her, she finally moved yet it was too late, the gun slipped through her fingers as the force collided with her, sending her up into the air._

_CRACK!_

_Her head collided with the floor, nearly caving in the back of her head. A pool of red formed around her as she laid there motionless, arms and legs sprawled out, eyes widened with horror and mouth open with shock. Pale skin that looked white compared to the dark, red liquid that was surrounding it, pretty face, pink lips and eyes that were open, frozen in place, messy blonde hair that was touching the ground, the blood making it look like her hair was red._

_"CINDY!" Chorused the voices again, footsteps, lighter then those of the elephants, were heard as they all ran towards the delicate, broken doll they had called friend. Leaves continued to rustle in the wind, rocks wouldn't stop scratching against the pavement, cracks in the pavement reminded them of Titan's footsteps and Titan's ferocious roar mingled with cries of "Cindy."_

A terrified gasp was heard as Cindy Lennox woke up with a start, a hand over her heart as sweat dripped from her forehead onto the blanket that was hugging her body. "It was just a dream, just a dream." She repeated to herself over and over, in an attempt to calm her nerves. It didn't help her at all however.

The room was dark, it frightened her as she stood up, her body shaking as she walked over to the window, pushing the curtain over to the side. She wasn't greeted with sunlight like she hoped for, instead darkness was the only thing she could see.

"Great. It's still night." Sighed Cindy softly, dark circles around her eyes as she walked over to the stairs, she needed to make something that would help her get to sleep. "I thought the nightmares had finally stopped. Why is it happening to me again?" She lamented, clutching onto the rail as she slowly descended down the stairs.

The thump when her small, delicate foot made contact with the wood always made her jump, she tried her best to ignore it as she made her way down, stairs had always freaked her out after the nightmare she had gone through but she thought that she would forget her fears in time, as her finger made it to the switch, turning on the lights which temporarily blinded her, she blinked her eyes, as they slowly adjusted.

She boiled the kettle, getting out her plain white coffee cup and put in her raspberry leaves, raspberry leaf tea had always been a favourite of hers. Pouring the water in, she stirred for around ten minutes before finally deciding she had made it properly, the leaves still swirling around as a result.

The raspberry leaf tea always helped soothe her nerves, she took small sips so she wouldn't burn her mouth, sitting on the couch, snuggled up to her giant stuffed bunny, it was pink with a large fluffy tail. It was beat out of shape a little, tears on it but she blamed that on the fact it was quite old.

Reaching for the remote for the T.V she bumped her coffee cup, it feel off the coffee table in what seemed like slow motion and Cindy's eyes widened in horror as it shattered upon contact with the marble floor. She groaned, frustrated and annoyed. "Good going Cindy!" She mumbled to herself as she got up to get a dustpan, but she froze in her tracks when she heard a moan.

It rumbled and echoed, it sounded oddly familiar to her and stirred memories that she wanted to forget. In a few a seconds she forgot why she had even left the couch and opened one of her drawers, moving some of the objects around, she found the one she was looking for.

A black handgun, grabbing it, she checked to see if it was fully loaded. She wasn't blind, she knew she was a tall, pretty and thin thing dressed only in a slightly see-though light blue nightie that only just made it past her butt, she wasn't going to take any chances in case it was just a burglar. At that moment a silhouette passed the window, shuffling it's feet, Cindy's heartbeat was racing.

She opened the front door and took a few steps outside, it was dark and hard to see, her fingers were turning red from how hard she was holding onto the gun. She looked left, right and center but she couldn't see, hear or feel anything. Her heart stopped pumping hard and returned to a slower more relaxed rate, she smiled. "Everything's fine. Nothing's happening." She whispered to herself, her voice delicate and gentle.

But as she turned and went back inside, she missed what could of been her salvation, what could of prevented her from being trapped in another nightmare. A hungry moan echoed throughout the silent night, it belonged to something that resembled a human being.

It was male, looking almost exactly like a human but it wasn't, it's skin was graying, decaying and pieces of flesh were falling from it, eyes completely white and blood stained teeth, the beast took a moment to stare at the house that belonged to Cindy Lennox but it quickly returned to it's meal.

Pinned underneath it's arms was a limp body, a bite mark was present in it's throat but as the decaying beast clamped it's jaw shut on what remained on the throat it was clear that he limp body wasn't ging to have a throat anymore.

On the morning of November 3rd, Cindy was going to be thrusted into something chaotic, something crazy, something she had been though before, something she never wanted to go though again. The small, peaceful town of Azalea was about to change.

Cindy Lennox was about to have her life changed once again, in a few hours she was going to return to the nightmare she left behind and she was going to be reunited from the past she ran from. For Cindy, there was no escape.


	2. Quiet

**Now that the prologue is over, I'll talk more about the story. It's meant to be a continuation of Cindy's journey. I won't give to much away but it's a short story and will feature only a few characters from the series, one deleted character and a few OCs that don't impact too much.**

**So just remember, this chapter may seem as boring but next chapter is when it gets intense so stick around. Remember to review and give me feedback, positive or constructive it doesn't matter. Also if anyone wants to possibly be my beta for this story, it'd be much appreciated!**

**Madison Lockheart: Thank you! I'll definitely be continuing, I've had this idea for a long time and I want to finish it!**

**Assassin master ezio 91: Thanks!**

* * *

The next morning, Cindy struggled to leave the comfort of her pillows, her alarm was going off and it was driving her crazy, begrudgingly getting up she slowly made her way to the shower. Letting her mind drift away, she tried to forget her nightmare but she never could.

Being a doctor was always her dream, it was just the feeling that she was doing something good in an evil world appealed to her but she had recently become interested in pursuing a career in botany, that had only just began earlier this year when she had discovered the somewhat unbelievable power of the herbs in Raccoon City, she had looked into possible career options for both choices.

Science wasn't always her best subject but the idea of learning about plants, specifically those herbs intrigued her and so she had gotten a job at local florist, just to learn a little regarding flowers as well as to help her save up enough money to go to college.

She didn't have work at the florist today but she had gotten a job at a local restaurant, much more fancy then the bar she had previously worked at but it didn't have the same feeling, it just wasn't as good. Stepping out of the shower, wrapping the towel around her she nearly slipped, she was still a but shaky.

"Geez, Cindy. Get a grip on yourself!" She scolded as she got out her work clothes, the restaurant had a flower theme and was full of bouquets of the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen, brushing her long light blonde hair, she pulled it into a low ponytail.

Putting on her dress, she took the time to look at herself in the full body mirror. Her outfit consisted of a white, strapless dress with designs of roses, lilies and various other flowers and the most beautiful dark green leaves anyone had ever seen scattered all over the dress, she pinned her name tag which read 'Cindy Lennox' over her heart, she finished it off with classy white hi-heels.

Siting herself at a table, she looked into her vanity mirror and applied her makeup, a hint of black eyeliner, a small amount of green eyeshadow and she topped it all off with light pink lipstick. Finally satisfied, she looked over at the calender and put a cross over on the date.

It was November 3rd, 1998, it hadn't even been a year since Raccoon City. Cindy was still only 24 and she knew she had her life to live, but she wasn't sure if she could ever truly forget what she had seen. Walking out of her house, a foul smell greeted her, she almost vomited as she caught a whiff.

"Gosh, what is that?" The smell was familiar and it struck fear into her heart, deciding against searching for the smell, she couldn't afford to be late. She needed this job, her car had broken down just a couple of days ago and she had to walk everywhere, taking a cab had always freaked her out a little.

The streets were surprisingly empty, chatter wasn't as loud as it usually was and Cindy felt alone as she walked through the narrow road, head down she couldn't see where she was going as she bumped into a man, knocking them both down. He was older then she was, graying hair but Cindy noticed scars all over him, flesh peeling away and she grimaced at the sight. He was clearly in bad shape and it ashamed her that she had just carelessly knocked down this innocent man.

"Are you alright, I apologize mister?" Cindy smiled brightly, extending her hand towards the man, he groaned lightly and a foul stench was emerging from him. Her eyes narrowed in confusion, the man hadn't responded and his head was down and she couldn't look into his eyes.

"Mister?" She tried again, slowly making her way towards him she jumped when a car horn sounded out, she tuned her head in the direction and saw that small, white car and she knew straight away who it was, even before they stuck their head out of the window. A man in his late 30's with short, graying brown hair. "Cindy!" He yelled, Cindy walked towards him, forgetting about the man.

"Mr Jones, what are you doing out here? I'd thought you'd be at work?" Mr Jones shook his head. "Nah, there's some weird stuff happening lately, Vasity hasn't called in to say if she's coming or not. She missed work yesterday, so I need you to come in early today."

Vasity was another waitress, Cindy wasn't particularly fond of her but Vasity was always early and never missed a work day. Cindy agreed and got in the car, thankfully making her way to the passenger side, the drive was only going to be around 10-20 minutes.

"So what's been going on?" Asked Cindy, something akin to fear creeping into her. "Everything has been really quiet, people have been starting to disappear and Alice Mckee disappeared, everyone thinks she's dead. Her older sister was found dead, she's missing an arm and half of her legs."

Gasping, Cindy dropped her house key. She ducked under and looked for it, her eyes gleamed when she found a hand gun hidden beneath her seat, taking it and her key, she hid the gun in her purse. "That's terrible, I feel so bad for her parents. Poor Alice, I hope shes found and my heart goes out to her sister."

Mr Jones laughed, Cindy frowned at the lack of respect he was showing."Alissa, Alice's sister, wasn't the angel everyone thought she was, it's a small town and word will get out that she sneaked into night clubs nearly everynight. I even had a wild and great night with her one time. Maybe it was her punishment, you religious Cindy?"

Shaking her head, Cindy opened her mouth to respond. "Not anymore, I stopped believing after September." "That's a shame, well here we are. Cindy, you're in charge I have things to take care of at home. Remember to lock up." "Of course Mr Jones."

Work had been quiet, it was always busy on a Saturday yet only half the tables were occupied. Hearing the chime of the door, Cindy walked over to the counter. "Hi! Welcome to... Jim! Jim I haven't seen you in ages!" Cindy smiled brightly, not taking notice of Jim's worried expression.

"Cindy we have to leave now! It's Raccoon City all over again!" Jim whispered frantically, Cindy rolled her eyes. "That's not a funny joke Jim, now do you want a table yourself? I'll give you the Employee's Discount." Informed Cindy, getting out her notebook and pen.

"No, Cindy I'm not fucking around! The zombies are coming! I saw Alice today, she was a zombie!"

An amused smile was written on Cindy's face, she knew she wasn't being nice or understanding but right now she couldn't care. "Jim." Her voice soft and comforting. "Raccoon City is not happening again, the Outbreak won't start again, not after we just escaped it."

Jim sighed, annoyed with Cindy's naivety. "I'm being serious! Come on Cindy, stop acting dumb! I saw it with my own eyes! Ya better believe me. The outbreak is starting again, Raccoon is starting again!" He basically shouted, attracting attention.

Cindy felt a blush appearing on her face as she felt everyone's eyes on her. "Jim, be quiet!" She scolded. Jim and her were around the same age, both 24 but he was older by a few months. "Cindy, you have to believe me! This shit is happening again! I don't want to be stuck fighting those fucking zombies again! Of we don't leave now we might not leave at all!"

Cindy frowned when he swore, despite the fact they had a very close friendship she didn't want to believe him, a gut feeling told her he was right but she just refused to listen to either." I don't believe you Jim. Now, do you want a table for 1 or 2?"

Jim groaned and grabbed onto Cindy's shoulders and looked deep into her eyes. "I'm not messing Cindy, I've told Kevin to come pick us up. He'll be coming in around 3 days, the city has already been barricaded by Umbrella, or someone working for them!"

Crossing her arms, Cindy wasn't backing down. "Jim. Raccoon City is not going to repeat itself, I've went through that once and it's not gonna happen again. Besides, Elza's here for a race. I'm not leaving her behind, but if it makes you feel better, I'll pack my things and if you're right, then we can go with my cousin."

"Shit! Cindy, why do you have to make everything so difficult! Go home now and pack, make sure you bring your guns. Once you're down, meet me at the cafe near the park." Jim left, Cindy noticed he was in a hurry. She laughed, "Jim you're crazy."

An hour later, it was time to close up, the bell on the door chimed once more and not even turning around, Cindy called out. "Sorry, we're closed. I think the restaurant on the other side of town is still open." The feet continued to shuffle, growing louder which each passing second. "We're closed." Repeated Cindy, her voice more firmer but the person continued to walk.

A foul stench, one which reminded her of rotting corpses, filled the air and a low groan echoed in her ears. Cindy could feel herself shaking, she wasn't sure if she was imagining it but it brought those feelings of dread, fear back. She didn't like it at all, she reached for the gun as the footsteps came closer, the shuffling of the feet grating her ears.

Grabbing her gun, she spun on her heel and the sight in front of her was mortifying, "Oh no... No...This...No... It can't..."Mumbled Cindy, finding herself struggling to breathe, despite her hopes it wasn't someone that she could scare off, it wasn't a robber nor was it a murdered.

It was something much worse.

Memories returned to her, she was brought back to that moment in J's Bar where her best friend, her companion was murdered right in front of her eyes and she could do nothing to help him, nothing to save him and nothing to make his death easier.

Lifeless white eyes stared into hers, peeling and decaying skin the colour of yellow, teeth that were so bloody and red it disguised their rotten colour and legs that were missing chunks of flesh, with hair that was beginning to fall out.

She dropped the gun and the beast, known as a zombie, lunged for her.

Cold, grimy fingers meet her shoulders, they tumbled down and Cindy hit the ground. It had a wild look in it's eyes, the look of hunger, it wanted food and it had found food. The creature was starving ad Cindy wasn't sure if she could take down a wild, soulless, starving zombie.

Teeth covered in dried up blood approached her neck.


	3. Hungry

**Just for a heads up, some of the chapters will have recollections/dreams of Raccoon City, those will be in italics and the actual events of the story will be in normal writing.**

**Anyway I hope you all enjoy the chapter and remember to leave a review! Favourites and follows are also much appreciated ;) Joking, but seriously please drop a review!**

**Now this chapter introduces an important character to the story and while it may seem boring, next chapter is when things get intense. This story is slow paced for around the first half because it's based off Resident Evil 1/2/3 and contains elements from those as well as Outbreak.**

**Assassin master ezio 91: Thanks! Yes things are definitely starting to get intense.**

* * *

_Cindy's eyes widened in horror as the human, or atleast something that resembled a person dug it's teeth into her dear friend's neck, the thing, whatever it was, groaned in hunger and at the sound of Cindy's heel banging into the floor, it looked up and slowly got up._

_"Fuck! Great going!" Came a mumble, Cindy was sure it came from the handyman or plumber, she didn't really care what he was right now and she frowned, she reached for a bottle and as the beast lunged towards her, she threw it at him and got his face yet it didn't even react and Cindy could see her life flash before her eyes._

_"Cindy!" She could hear someone call out and in a natural instinct, she ducked under and quickly ran from the beast, over to her dead friends side. The doctor who knew that the bartender was dead just from looking at the wound in his neck, knelt down and looked for a pulse just to comfort the woman, Cindy felt hope but that was soon crushed when the doctor put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her sadly._

_"He's dead." "No... No... There must be something you can do doctor, are you sure he's dead." Cindy shook her head in denial and struggled to hold back her tears, looking down at Will she knew he was dead but he was her best friend, they had worked at J's Bar for a long time together and it broke her heart._

_She could barely feel Kevin, the cop who was a regular at the Bar, kneel down next to her. "Will was a good man, he didn't deserve it." Cindy sniffled and looked up at Kevin she opened her mouth but no words came out, her eyes conveyed her feelings that she couldn't voice._

_All different kinds of emotions were going through her head right now but she needed to be strong, something was going on in this town and the news reporter suddenly spoke up. "No..." She took a step back and Cindy followed the direction of her eyes and she nearly fell to the floor. Those creatures, the kind that killed Will were banging on the glass trying to get in._

_The security guard, he was quite tough and she knew he was a good person as he was supporting his friend who looked deathly pale and frail, spoke directly to her. "Do you know a way out of here? I know it must be hard but do you?" Cindy changed her sight from the weird looking humans that were trying to break down the glass windows to him but before she could answer, a scream sounded out._

_A young Japanese woman ran out of the bathroom in a panic. "Something tried to grab me!" She exclaimed but no one could answer as a groan rumbled from next to Cindy. "Will?" She questioned as the young man, one with short black hair stirred beside her._

_"He's moving! He's moving!" Shouted the subway worker in panic as Cindy narrowed her eyes in confusion, the doctor was also confused. "Impossible, he's dead." There was a wild look in Will's eyes and Cindy knew that her friend had come back from the dead, but not as himself.  
_

_Will was one of those things. Will was not her friend anymore. Will was going to kill her. All those thoughts and more raced through her mind and as Will's arms shot forwards towards her, Cindy felt the handyman pull her back out of harm's way, she wasn't sure if she should of been grateful or angry as she felt his eyes burn right through her._

_Cindy shakily stood up and walked towards the back of the room, she could hear everyone else do the same and out of the corner of her eye she saw Kevin grabbing his gun. "Hey buddy you might want to stop right there or I'll be forced to shoot." "It's no use." Cindy felt herself whispering her voice barely audible, all eyes on her. "Will's changed."_

_Everything happened so quickly, Will lunged forward and he grabbed the reporter, Cindy thought she was done for but the older woman had a stun gun on her and she was quite good at using it, stunning Will before she ran to the other side of the room as Kevin and the security guard blasted Will with bullets._

_Soon after Will slumped to the floor and Cindy raced towards him, crying and burying her head into his chest and she let out all of her feelings. She couldn't be strong, not anymore but as the glass smashed she knew she had to hide her feelings, "I have the key. We can leave from the roof. My name's Cindy by the way."_

_She smiled brightly towards all of them, she knew the seven or eight but she didn't think the oldie would make it past the night, were her lifeline and she was their lifeline. Everyone had to be strong and soon everyone began speaking up as Cindy grabbed Will's diary from his pocket before woking on unlocking the door._

_"Kevin." "Alyssa." The reporter spoke up, "But I'm sure you've all seen me before." "George." The doctor said, the Japanese girl spoke up next. Her voice was quiet. "Yoko." The security guard was next to speak. "Mark. And this is Bob." "Name's Jim." The subway worker let them know and the handyman told them his name was David._

_Little did Cindy know that Bob wouldn't make it past the night, little did she know how close she would become to all, even David who disliked her. She didn't know it yet but she was going to form a bond that would last for eternity._

* * *

Cindy Lennox gazed up into those glossy, white eyes. Flesh peeled off onto her, she struggled to hold back those yellow, dirt-stained and bloody teeth as it groaned loudly, ferociously as it shoved it's jaw closer to her throat. The nightmare wasn't over, it was just beginning and she realised she may very well start to feel that hunger they know. She didn't want to be starving.

She felt like her efforts were futile and memories of Raccoon City that she had buried deep were beginning to resurface as she felt her strength seeping away, Cindy began to think it would be for the best if she just gave up now but then she remembered how she felt when she saw Will in the same situation she was in now.

The feelings of heartbreak, anger and desperation she remembered clearly and suddenly she found herself fighting back harder and with surprising strength she pushed the zombie to the side, no one was ever going to feel the way she did that day, she owed it to Jim and all the other survivors that she would make it out of this hell hole.

Reaching for her gun, she wrapped her fingers around it tightly and rolled over before hurrying to her feet. Aiming for the head, she took a long look at the zombie and squeezed the trigger and everything went so slow as Cindy imagined the bullet tearing through the zombie's brain and killing it for good.

Nothing happened and Cindy's eyes widened in terror and shock. "This can't be happening..." Her gun was out of ammo and Cindy ducked as the zombie lunged for her, narrowly missing her hair and Cindy sprinted to the counter and hurriedly opened the drawers.

Empty all of them, if Cindy believed in using swear words she would of said them all already. "Gosh... Come on Mr Jones, surely you'd leave some handgun ammo in here." The zombie continued to shuffle towards her and Cindy ran to the tables, hoping the thing would trip over the chairs and bye her some time.

Weaving her way through the tables, she searched desperately for something she could use as a weapon, anything would be fine with her at the moment. Mr Jones was always a terrible boss, as the zombie approached Cindy grabbed a butter knife and griping it tightly, if she wasn't scared out of her mind she'd laugh at her choice of a weapon.

The zombie's fingers grazed her shoulders and Cindy ducked as it tried to grab her chest, it stumbled and turned back around, moaning in anger that it had missed it's meal once again but before it could make another attempt, Cindy drove the knife through it's eye.

Cindy yanked the knife out and tossing it to the ground, Cindy spun on her heel and sprinted to the kitchen, she grabbed a frypan and waited til the shuffling grew louder and louder until she could see the beast in the corner of her eye, she whacked the frying pan into his face and slammed the door shut.

She relaxed a little and took deep breathes to calm herself. "Mr Jones, don't let me down. Please have bullets somewhere." On a table nearby was a sharp knife, she would make sure that she'd grab that if she found no ammo. Searching through the draws all she could find were useless forks, spoons, pans and cutting boards.

"Nothing! Why!" She grunted frustrated as she dug though another draw, not hearing the door creak open loudly. Shuffling grew louder but Cindy couldn't hear it over the silverware banging into eachother as she looked for the ammo she needed.

Her began to beat loudly as the scent of death and decay made it's way to her nose, she froze in place and slowly reached for the knife, any sharp movement would attract it's attention. Fingers closed around the handle as she ducked before turning and she screamed as the hands roughly grabbed onto her shoulders, she wrestled with the zombie, in a state of panic as the mouth loomed near her neck, inching closer and closer, she kicked the beast and made it flinch, she freed her hand with the knife and she tried to double her efforts as her one arm struggled to hold the beast back.

With lightning quick movements, she dug the knife through the zombie's head and he slumped to the floor, dead as Cindy sighed in relief. She had forgotten how hard it was to kill one of those things, especially when you're by yourself.

She crouched down and looked sadly at the zombie. "I'm sorry this happened to you," She spoke softly, sincerity in her voice as she searched him to see if he had any ammo. It was Cindy's lucky minute as she found what she was searching for. Fifteen handgun bullets.

Quickly loading them into her gun, she stood up and walked out of the restaurant and what she saw reminded her of Raccoon City. All she could hear was screaming, all she could see was the T-Virus victims and Cindy felt ashamed for the way she treated Jim.

Of course Jim was right, Cindy was in denial and she wasn't happy at all. "Now I just need to find Elza and them meet up with Jim. I hope they're both alive, I wouldn't be able to handle it if they died." Whispering to herself she clutched her gun tight as she began her descent into the town.

She just needed to last three days but she wondered if she could even last the rest of this day. As she walked though the town, she saw the old high school. It looked ancient, bricks with missing chunks, plants that were overgrown and it was dark.

A black fence was set up so students couldn't go to the other side of the school, she didn't know and she didn't care but once caught sight of that blonde hair, pale skin and that unforgettable red, white and blue tight racesuit with Raccoon written over her chest, suddenly made her care about the fence.

She had found her 19 year old cousin, Elza Walker but she couldn't get to her. It seemed like Cindy was going to have to survive on her own this time, all she could do was watch helplessly as Elza backed away from something.

"Elza! Elza! Elza!" Yelled out Cindy but Elza clearly couldn't hear her as she spoke to the person approaching her, Cindy pressed against the fence as she faintly heard Elza say, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disturb you." Cindy could feel her heart pumping real hard as she saw the figure Elza was talking to was a zombie.

When Elza ran, so did Cindy as she spotted a hole in the fence and she sprinted for that, she was going to save her cousin no matter what the cost was. But Cindy never reached the hole as something large, feathery knocked her to the ground.

"Oh god."


	4. Hunted

**Here's the update, sorry for the delay but my laptop remains dead and typing from my iPad is horrible and a mission. Like, the people that actually type chapters on their iPads should be admired or something. Anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter. A character will make her debut in this chapter and I'm sure you'll all be shocked by who it is!**

**And Resident Evil Revelations 2 is really good, it's nice to see Claire return and Moira was better then I thought she would be. **

**kayaldw7: Thanks a lot! I'm really glad I managed to do all that!**

**Assassin master ezio91: Thanks! Won't need to wait anymore!**

* * *

Majestic, magnificent, those were the words that rung through Cindy's mind as she stared at the beast in front of her, eyes wide with both amazement and fear. A shrill scream came from the thing as it flapped it's large wings, Cindy crawled backwards as she reached for her handgun.

Little good that thing was going to do against the magnificent, clearly dangerous and deranged, giant bird in front of her.

The bird was the same height as Cindy, perhaps a little taller even, Cindy grimaced after looking at the long, sharp yellow beak that was covered in dried up blood, the talons looked to be twice the size of her head and they glimmered in the sunlight, it's head was covered in white feathers while the rest of body was coated in brown feathers.

Somewhat of a signature of those infected with the T-Virus was that the mutation caused some of your flesh to peel off in little bits or just fall off in large chunks, this infected animal was the same and the mutation resulted in the horrifying creature to be missing bits and pieces of it's flesh.

The feathers seemed to have hardened and from appearance alone they reminded Cindy of steel, she was sure they'd be resilient like steel. She scanned the beast over once again with her eyes, analysing what she knew had changed about it. Hardened feathers, sharper beaks and claws, a much larger size and the feathers had grown huge.

Another thing that had developed and changed were it's eyes, they were much larger and seemed to scan her menacingly, Cindy was it's prey and it seemed to think she was going to be an easy piece of food to devour.

Overall the Eagle was a fearsome creature covered in brown and white metallic feathers, who occasional patches of blood and signs of decay scattered over it's large body and it's sharp looking talons.

Oh, Cindy was already starting to miss her group of friends and David, her eyes scanned the big bird for any potential weak spots but she hardly knew how to shoot down an average bird, a crazed, infected monstrosity of a bird was definitely going to prove difficult.

Powerful wings swooped at her aggressively as the eagle clearly decided to eat its prey unfortunately for it, Cindy manages do a timely roll with one hand grabbing hold of her gun. Having placed some distance between her and the predator, Cindy rose to her feet and with shaky hands aimed her handgun up at the bird who stared at her with dead eyes.

Miss Lennox took a deep breath and wrapped her fingers around the trigger and fired, the Bullet flew through the air towards the eagle and time seemed to stop for the briefest of moments. But as Cindy predicted earlier, the handgun was practically useless against the bird as the bullet bounced off the feathers harmlessly.

A groan escaped her lips as eagle swooped towards her once again, swiping with it's wings but Cindy's pattern of duck, step, dive and occasionally roll to stand saved her from being hit. The pattern had thankfully worked out and the monster hadn't figured it out just yet.

Cindy could feel the eagle eyeing her agitated as it flew up into the sky, creating a strangely cool and relaxing breeze with it's wings. It was bound to come up with a new attack and before Cindy could react a talon was swiped, the claws inches away from cutting her face and Cindy's breath stopped.

The eagle went on the offensive, it's talons trying to claw out Cindy's face and torso. Cindy was thrust into a panic, shooting her gun wildly in hopes of killing the beast while she took a few quick steps in any direction opposite of the enemy, not willing to die against an infected monster.

With a heavy sigh Cindy checked her handgun, because of her stupid firing she had wasted seven bullets and now only had seven left. Worry settled in, this was the first time Cindy was going to be facing a creature by herself without anyone to help her. She wasn't sure if she could handle it.

A loud shriek resonated from her when the bird showed it's beak in her face, unwittingly Cindy placed her hands on the thing and shoved it away ducking as it snapped it's beak in response. Carefully crawling backwards, Cindy looked up at it and seemed to notice that it's overly large eyes was the only part of the bird that wasn't hardened.

Perhaps the eye was the weakspot and Cindy, both hands holding her gun, raised it up and pressed the trigger. Luckily due to her target being so big, it was hard to miss even with her bad aim. Once the bullet made contact with the eagle it let out a pained, awful caw and immediately launched towards it's attacker.

The battle of shrieks had began, Cindy wasn't sure if hers or the birds were larger as they exchanged attacks, Cindy always just avoiding being skewered to bits and whenever she hit it in the eye with a bullet, it reared back giving her just enough time to move back so she could avoid it's aggressive retaliation.

However, Cindy's seemingly lucky streak was coming to an end as when she checked her gun, it was empty. All of her ammo was gone and her big beautiful eyes became wide and they searched the ground for any potential ammo lying around.

The heavy sound of the wings flapping directed Cindy's attention back to the bird as in desperation picked up a rock the size of her fist. While she certain it wouldn't save her, she didn't want to die without trying. Because after Raccoon she would never be able to forgive herself if she let the group, Jim and Elza down without trying.

"Cindy, keep breathing. Slowly, in out, in out." She repeated to herself quietly as the bird flew towards her determined to swoop at her with one of it's attacks and be able to devour her. It's calculating eye fixed on her as it approached and by some sort of miracle and even in heels, Cindy was coordinated enough to avoid it's beak and slam the rock into it's eye and it popped.

While it's sharp wing did take out Cindy, slicing her left leg as she landed with a thud on her back, the eagle cawed crazily as it was now blind and crashed into a wall. Sliding to the ground and it laid there motionless and after Cindy watched it for a long amount of seconds, she decided it was dead.

Glittery pink lips broke into a smile and the sound of heels was loud and clear as Cindy walked away, a sense of pride and victory filling her up. Each step was quick and clumsy as she began to get an eerie feeling settle. Wings flapped lightly in the background and Cindy's delicate smile dropped into an 'O' shape as she turned around slowly, horror movie style.

Waiting for her was the eagle, blood covered it's right side of the face and some had even dripped down onto it's beak as it dove towards her. "Duck." A silk as smooth voice called out and Cindy hastily agreed, lowering down so one knee was touching the ground.

The Eagle, beak open wide wasn't expecting a grenade to fly into it's mouth and it closed it's mouth in shook and when the grenade exploded the Eagle crashed, finally dead as it skidded for a while on the concrete before stopping.

"Oh thank you." Cindy said with a huge smile on her face as she took on the appearance of her saviour. It was a sleek, sexy woman of clear Asian descent with short, black as night hair and dark as chocolate eyes. Red lips curled into a smile. "You're welcome." Said the Asian woman dressed in a red skirt, with a matching red button up shirt, the collar popped open and back.

"I'm Ada. Ada Wong and you are?" Cindy's saviour, Ada, asked and Cindy took a few steps closer towards her. "My name is Cindy Lennox and I'd just like to thank you again." With a chuckle, Ada handed Cindy some ammo for her handgun.

"You did pretty well out there, it was... Impressive..." Ada complimented Cindy before turning around and taking a few steps away, but just before she left the school grounds, she turned her head and locked eyes with Cindy. She was oozing with mystery and beauty, Cindy didn't know her but she admired her already.

"See you around." Came the words out of the mysterious Ada Wong as she continued to walk, leaving behind a grateful Cindy who had many questions formed in her head about the girl who had just saved her life. After a look around, Cindy reloaded her gun and stared off into the desolate streets. "I'll go back home, grab my herbcase and then, Elza, I'll find you and Jim and we can escape this horrid place."


	5. Tranquil

_"Do you believe we'll make it out alive? Please, Kevin, just tell me the truth. Do you honestly think we can make it?" Cindy Lennox meekly asks her self-appointed protector as she carefully looks around for any sign of incoming danger, paranoia was taking control and making a reappearance. Kevin shuffles around for a little bit, tossing the gun back and forth in his hand before turning to look at Cindy. A steely, strong look of determination flashes in his eyes as his lips moved to answer her question._

_"I don't think we can make it out. I know we can make it out, Cindy I know you're frightened and if I'm going to be perfectly honest with you, I'm frightened too. Shit, I'm terrified but I know we'll make it out alive. You and me, we make a good team and the others? The others are all tough and reliable. The eight of us together can easily make it out of here."_

Cindy walked through the vibrantly green and alive streets, eyes darting all over the place and fingers tightly coiled around her handgun. It was eerily quiet and the streets were surprisingly empty. Not a single human or monster in sight and she was uncertain if she should feel relief or terror.

The trees rustled in the breeze and Cindy could feel her muscles clenching but she had to remind herself to be strong, she'd been through it once before and she can go through it again. _'You only made it out because you had the seven of us protecting your pathetic little, pretty head.' _The voice of David echoes throughout her head, filling up her little body with doubts.

It was a matter of mere seconds for the silence to end, Cindy was snapped back to reality as the sound of a child's scream brought her to life and she rushed towards it. "HEEELLLLLPPPPP!" The child, a boy she deduced from the voice, screamed and Cindy sprinted towards the direction of it. Her feet moved in a quick pace despite of the heels they were in.

As soon as one foot touched the ground, the other foot left immediately. This pattern repeated itself for what seemed like an hour when in reality it was only a matter of seconds. The brick houses all with varying different designs, colours, gardens and roofs blurred into one as Cindy found the source of the screams. The sight in front of her struck her still and she could barely move, with her eyes wide and terrified.

A young boy dressed in tattered clothing with messy black hair and olive skin covered in cuts, blood and bruises was down on the ground, attempting to crawl on his elbows as a zombie gave hot pursuit. It's mouth wide open as it lunged for the kill. The young boy was only able to stay alive as the zombie tripped over a small rock, changing the direction of the lunge and it's deadly claws missed the boy by a mere centimeter. The boy continued to scream and Cindy continued to stay frozen in place.

Something managed to awaken Cindy however and that was the low, familiar moan, resonating from behind her as she turned around slowly to see what was once a blonde woman, now a zombie with yellow skin, droopy eyes and an open set of jaws shuffling towards her with arms outstretched, ready to latch onto it's prey.

Too slow to react, Cindy found herself dropping her gun as struggled tirelessly to push the zombie's blacked teeth away from her throat but to no avail and the teeth inched closer and closer to her neck with each passing second, just as the boy on the ground was slowing down and the zombie following him began to speed up, the thrill of prey providing fuel to it's cannibalistic fire.

_'Simply worthless, I don't even know how you made it out of J's Bar. Unable to save a child from a lone zombie, unable to keep hold of a simple handgun. New headline for my top story : Bye Bye Blonde Bimbo' _The voice of Alyssa spoke in her mind, powering up Cindy who refuted the claims with determination and managed to shove the zombie off of her as it toppled over, face landing on a curb a perfect position for a curb stomp, which Cindy fulfilled slamming her heel down hard on to the brain.

An eruption of blood burst and it took all of Cindy's willpower to not throw up, ducking down to grab her gun, Cindy took a deep breath to calm down her nerves and taking another moment to take aim, arms extended and completely straight both hands holding the gun and two fingers on the trigger.

Cindy lined the handgun up with the head of the zombie that was dangerously close to the boys leg and fired with hesitation, the gun almost hitting her head due to the recoil and she visibly winced at the sickening break of the skull and only briefly looked to see pieces of the brain splattered around the now completely dead body of the zombie. Her eyes focused on the boy, who was now huddled up and holding his legs tightly to his chest.

Rushing over, Cindy crouched down and smiled gently at the boy as she placed of hand on his body and started to run it down in a comforting manner. "Hey, it's alright. You're safe now, the monsters are all gone, everything is ok right now, my name is Cindy Lennox. You are?"

The boy sniffled and grabbed her hand with his and accepted her offer to help him up as the two rose to their feet, he stuttered out an answer. "Na...N...Nat.. Ha...Han... Nathan... My name's... Nathan." With a quick look over, Cindy didn't see any major cuts or wounds on Nathan and double checked for any bites, there were none that she could see and so she decided that the boy was uninfected, this fact provided her with much comfort and made her spirit soar. At least she was competent enough to save a child, now it was her responsibility to make sure that Nathan would live through this nightmare.

"Nathan, I've decided that I was going to go back to my house and stock up on a few supplies so I can find a way out of here. You can come with me, I'll help you find you family." A soft voice, in a vain attempt to reassure the boy. She willingly allowed him to burrow further into her, looking to her as a form of protection. The role had reversed from the original outbreak, Cindy was now serving as the protector instead of being the one in need of saving.

A warm smile was always on her face and it was even wider now as Nathan placed his trust in her, admiring Cindy's optimism. However, all of that optimism was a facade to hide a much more negative and fearful personality. Only Kevin had been able to see through it and realise that the ever positive and optimistic attitude was a constant attempt to reassure herself.

"I... I don't have any one here... I was visiting my Uncle... I live in another town... I just want to go home!" Wailed and sniffled Nathan, tears leaking from his fluorescent baby blue eyes and he clutched onto Cindy even tighter almost being dragged up by her when she stood up.

"Well, how about we get to finding your Uncle? That can be out first goal and all three of us, with a few of my friends can escape and we can get back to your parents?" Cindy reassured the boy as he pried his arms off and delicately wrapped one of her hands with his, linking them together as she cautiously began walking down the isolated street.

"My Uncles... Gone... He was eaten by one of those... Zombie monster things..." Nathan whispered quietly, Cindy's heart breaking with each revelation. "Well sweetie, once we get back to my house and I get a few things, we'll have a quick rest and I'll get you out of here. I promise, I've done this once before and I'll do it again."

Feeling a need to comfort, Cindy's optimistic and idle chit chat seemed to be doing it's job as she attempted to comfort the shaken Nathan, each word that came out of Cindy's mouth was as sweet as honey and caused Nathan's lips to lift up into a smile of some sort.

Cindy's current checklist:

1) Get to her house with Nathan and grab her herb case.

2) Find Jim and Elza, search for any other survivors on the way.

3) Get out of the town with Nathan, Elza, Jim and anyone else alive and uninfected.

4) Once safe and sound, drop Nathan off to his parents and find Kevin.

Now with a clear goal of what to do in her head, Cindy pulled Nathan along as she went down what used to be familiar streets, the quietness only adding to the eeriness she was feeling down deep in her bones. Right hand holding onto her gun as if it was a lifeline as she walked slowly, trying to be silent so she didn't detect any possible infected to her location.

**SNAP!**

Sounded out the now split in half tree branch Cindy had just stepped on, a second of silence enveloped the two before it was shattered by the loud barking of dogs. Cindy was once again reduced to freezing over, her mouth opening and closing in shock as three doberman, with soulless white eyes and rib cages exposed raced towards the pair, jaws snapping open and teeth coated in thick saliva.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.. This can't be happening we were so close to my house... We were just a few more streets..." Cindy mumbled to herself, pushing Nathan behind her as she shakily raised her gun only to duck in fear as a zombie dog dove towards, narrowly missing her throat.

Cindy protectively stood in front of Nathan as she slowly backed away from the hungry dogs, all of where were eyeing her warily, pushing Nathan back gently before spotting a dumpster. "Hide, go and run. I'll cover you. Once I've killed them, I'll tell you to come out."

Nathan obeyed her instructions and sprinted fast for the dumpster, the zombie dogs immediately gave chase and were quickly catching up. This was a test of Cindy's skills as a marksman as she rapidly fired at the dogs, a few bullets hitting and the rest missing. She began to panic as the dogs were gaining on Nathan with each stride.

One leapt in for the kill only to be met with a bullet, putting it down as it fell to the ground silently and the remaining two stopped pursuit of Nathan and rushed towards Cindy instead. Nathan had made it to safety but Cindy wasn't out of the clear just yet.

Her eyes darted between the two dogs, gun following one before switching to the other one. She was hesitant, she knew it and they knew it, they could smell her fear and snarled lowly leaning back as they prepared to pounce. Cindy was ready to duck and once was about to leap when suddenly the other one swept at her leg with it's paw, the length of it's nails intensified by the infection.

Cindy moved with a sudden quickness, one she was unaware she herself was capable of and expertly shot down the one that leapt and kicking the other in the face and followed up with a kick to the ribs and fired her gun into it's side as it laid on the ground, whimpering before going quiet.

But the fight wasn't over yet and the last one left pounced, it's jaws snapping towards her leg and almost met it's target before Cindy sidestepped out of the way, handgun reloaded in quick time and three more shots were unloaded. The first missed, the second grazed the left ear and left a trail of steam, the third ripped through the eye and caused the zombie dog to collapse, bloody snout crashing into the ground and muscular legs bending at an awkward angle.

All threats had been eliminated and Cindy rushed towards the dumpster, helping Nathan out and cleaning off all the dirt on him. With a quick look behind her, Cindy turned back around with a gaze of strong determination and continued down the road.

The pair walked down hand in hand, one tall, pretty and standing proud while the other young, scared and clinging onto Cindy's hand as if it was his lifeline. The destination, Cindy's house, the estimated arrival time was little over 5 minutes. The question was however, would the pair be able to make it?


	6. Trepidation

Cindy and Nathan had managed to reach her house successfully, it was still daylight and whilst for the moment they were safe as the wails, the screams, the moans all seemed to have gone to a temporary halt and no deranged, ferocious beasts were in the vicinity of the pair. Much to her surprise and relief, not only was the quaint two story house intact but the power remained on as the outbreak clearly having not yet overtaking the power station. Could this be a possible calm before the storm moment? Miss Lennox wasn't sure, but she'd do everything in her power to protect her new companion.

Every door was locked before she allowed herself to settle, with each window being barricaded in the likely event of a zombie stumbling into private property in it's endless search for flesh to sate it's unyielding hunger. Fingers trembled nervously, anxiously as her eyes continually drifted to the doors. Something could break in at any moment, she always had to be on her guard.

Nathan was far too young, far too tired to understand the severity of the situation and Cindy admired his naivety, his youthfulness and innocence and to a degree, she was reminded of herself prior to the nightmare of Raccoon City. Sweat poured down Nathan's head, he tossed and turned restlessly as Cindy gently lifted him up and put him in the guest room on the second floor, a room she believed was the most zombie proof.

With a prolonged sigh and a raking of her hair with her slender fingers, she sat down for a few minutes to eat a cold, plain meal she had prepared for herself and tried to ignore the growing paranoia that resonated from within as she forced the food down sluggishly taking a sip from her half full cup of water. Multiple times she had to remind herself that for this moment she could relax, she was strong, she was brave, she was confident and was safe.

Safe. Secure. Strong.

Her own new personal slogan that she had been preaching to herself over and over, attempting to mimic the effects of a well-run propaganda campaign to garner her own support in her own abilities. It's success wasn't as great as she personally would of liked, but it was enough to allow her to eliminate some of nerves echoing through her brain.

"I can give myself an hour at the most to relax." The blonde beauty muses to herself as she makes her way to the bathroom, hesitating for the briefest of moments before firmly turning the light switch on and allowing the stainless bathtub to become filled with warm, comforting water as she slides off her dress and enters in it silently, trying to avoid making too much sound.

With her eyes closed, her body relaxed and worries temporarily melting away, she allowed herself to become a prisoner of her own desires and drifted off to memories of a happier time, when she was still a believer and happily naive. A cute smile transitioned onto her face as she sunk deeper into the tub, purifying herself with soap and shampoo.

Before she allowed herself to be absorbed and far too calm, she forced herself to exit as the water dripped off slowly. Tiny droplets hit the floor with a loud sound, as she inspected her current state. Bright blue eyes with a hidden strength, tired skin and a weary disposition.

"I shouldn't but..." Cindy's delicate voice trailed off as she dried her silky hair with a towel before wrapping one with cutesy floral and teddy bear designs around her body, concealing her figure to any prying eyes. Twisting her hair into a messy bun, she took only a few minutes to apply makeup onto her face and adorning her ears with small, unnoticeable silver earrings.

Making her small trek back to her own bedroom, a quiet but odd chirping distracted her and she paused to glance at one of the windows she decided to leave barricaded as she doubted the ability of a zombie or a infected animal to be able to climb it's way up a house to get through a window. Blue orbs full of life met tiny black beads that emitted a pure evil.

A slight flinch of the woman's body was all it took to aggravate the crow into diving through to attack, the glass shattered as Cindy slipped backwards, knocking her head roughly into the wall. Vision blurred as the crow fluttered all around her, it's squawks terrifying the blonde to her core.

"Ugh, get away from me please."

With each tremble, each attempt to crawl along made the earth seem to rumble. Was it an illusion? Was she imagining this crow? She wished it was all a trick of the mind but the black beady eyes, the peeling flesh, the curled up feathers reminded her it was all too real.

Hands trailed along the edge of some form of a wooden object, the crow swooped in for the attack and Cindy's fidgety hand hurried to push it away with a wince. But her hand never reached it, she was seeing doubles and everything was so wavy, so inconsistent. As if she was watching life through a television with awful reception and bright vibrant colours that served to merely distract.

The crow swooped once more and Cindy accidentally pulled on the wooden stand. The standoff between the crow and the lady ended almost as soon as it started, only one wing was now visible of the crow, having been buried under the bland piece of furniture.

A twitch of the ruffled, crushed wing before finally all movement came to a stop.

Limping her way to the bedroom, the exhausted woman collapsed onto the bed before forcing herself to get up. Pulling out the trusty herb case, she addressed the wound on her head before loading up her handgun and placing it on her bedside table.

Knowing that in the morning they would have to leave immediately, she decided to get changed now to hasten up the future time. She put on a white sleeveless blouse and despite knowing better, put on a black skirt that ended just above her knees. Tucking the blouse in and deciding on a pair of black heels, she decided she was ready.

Cindy justified her use of heels because they could be used as a weapon in a extremely last case scenario, finally deciding she was ready and prepared, she allowed herself to fall asleep. The sleep was relatively peaceful as for this night, nightmares decided not to torment her. But a growing sense of trepidation couldn't help but run through her.

Throughout the night, only around an hour after Cindy's slumber, low moans emerged from the house, shuffling of the feat and a deathly smell clouded up the house. Was this an attacker from the outside? Or could it of been someone from the inside, someone who had turned from a mere graze with the teeth that penetrated through the skin, just deep enough for the virus to be transmitted.

As Cindy awoke, she would soon find out that it was the second option that held the truth.

"No, no, no." She cried as she backed into a corner, eyes wide with fear, tears forming as her lip quivered with a sense of failure, sadness and disgust. "Stay back! This couldn't of happened, how did this happen? I was so careful, I was so sure that you were safe. I'm so, so sorry."

The small zombie paid no heed to her words, merely tilting his head with the familiar look of hunger that would forever plague Cindy's mind. The innocent Nathan stumbled towards her with a guttural groan as he lunged with a sudden burst of speed, arms extended as if he were ready to embrace the woman he now no longer knew.

Ducking out of the way, Cindy crawled through the hall with a panic. A gun was in her hand but she didn't want to do this, she couldn't do it. "Nathan, I'm so sorry," A ferocious growl, one that should never come from a child was the only response she got.

As the child swung once more, Cindy let out a terrified scream as she whacked his face with the gun before taking another step backwards. "Don't make me do this." She pleaded, deep down knowing that he couldn't understand, it was an impossibility and one she was all too aware of.

_Cindy watched in suspense as the others made plans too escape, Alyssa had been quick to find a weapon and it was very clear as to which patrons of the bar were the most prepared and ready. Yoko Suzuki, the mysterious woman seemed to in shock at what she had stumbled into._

_David King seemed to be unimpressed with the situation in general, reluctantly taking hold of Mark's friend Bob as Mark helped to barricade the windows and the doors as more of those humans, those odd humans with decay and death imprinted all over them stumbled towards and started banging on the doors._

_"Hey, we've got to go!" Jim yelled hysterically, hiding behind Kevin as he opened the door. Everyone knew that the traditional exit was no longer an option but nobody knew how to leave the bar, except Will who failed to survive his wounds and Cindy, who was crouching besides her co-worker, refusing to believe that his life had been taken by some cannibalistic mad man._

_Cindy who was holding her deceased's friend hand was startled to find that it was now squeezing back, "George! How is this possible? Will's alive!" Cindy proclaimed with such joy as the eight others noticed that Will was beginning to stir, George frowned at the sight, knowing it was impossible for this to happen. It went against all scientific, all medical knowledge he had learnt._

_It was only because of Kevin's quick thinking that Cindy had managed to avoid getting her throat torn out, a shot to the heart failed to put Will down immediately and as Cindy crawled away, she knew nothing could be done. Looking into Will's eyes was the worst mistake she could ever of made._

Nothing had changed since then, she was unable to register that Will had changed and she was unable to react now that Nathan had changed. A hysterical, heartbreaking screams were all that were heard for miles as Cindy ran away from Nathan as he followed slowly.

However, she seemed to be a magnet for damsel in distress situations recently as she found herself backed into a corner with the zombie child approaching her, jaw slacked open and ready to chomp down and enjoy a good feast. She shakily raised her hands, holding the gun.

Luckily for her, she never needed to pull the trigger as a gunshot sounded out, Nathan's blood splattering across the wall as he collapsed to the floor. Cindy's breath stopped as a handsome man of South American descent came rushing over, his tight green shirt and black pants failed to hide his muscles.

"Hey lady, the name's Carlos." He started, looking her over for wounds as Cindy vaguely put the gun down and semi-coherently mumbled that she wasn't bitten. "Carlos Oliveira. I'm glad I got to you in time, did you know this kid?"

The mention of Nathan placed Cindy back into hysterics and she weakly grabbed onto Carlos before bursting into tears, it was very uncharacteristic of her but all the built up tension had finally began to unravel. Carlos, though taken back, merely crouched down next to her and allowed her to use him for comfort.

Carlos had heard the screams of Cindy, he had been travelling through the town when the infection began and had made plans to escape but decided to put them to a halt as he rushed to Cindy's aid. The woman looked slightly familiar and although he couldn't pinpoint where exactly he had seen her, he knew her from somewhere.

"Chica, now it's alright. But we need to get a move on now, those zombies could be coming at any moment." He carefully told her as he cupped her chin, looking into her tear stricken eyes. Cindy nodded numbly as she rose to her feet, leaning on Carlos for support.

"I'm so sorry, I have to thank you for saving me. I'm not normally this useless, you wouldn't believe it but I've been in this situation before." Cindy mumbled and rambled as she grabbed her herb case, trying it around her skirt and held onto Carlos with one hand and the other firmly gripping her gun as she hurriedly stepped over Nathan's body, without a second glance as she knew if she did, she would start crying

Carlos, the former mercenary and Raccoon City survivor in a bizarre twist of fate had managed to recuse former J's Bar employee and also a Raccoon City survivor. Cindy took another second too compose herself before looking at Carlos with hopeful eyes. "Alliance?"

Carlos smiled warmly at Cindy, allowing her to her cling to him as he tightened his grip on his sub-machine gun and lead them out of the house, making sure his new companion was alright as he could sense her fight to remain in one piece. "I'm down for an alliance, pretty lady."

"I'm Cindy Lennox, by the way."


End file.
